Melrose Public Library to host mini golf fundraiser

Thursday

Jan 12, 2017 at 1:59 PMJan 12, 2017 at 1:59 PM

Jeannette Hinkle jhinkle@wickedlocal.com @JennyHinkleWL

It’s the end of January and it’s time for a party.

That’s why Friends of the Melrose Public Library is focusing its biggest fundraiser of the year on bringing Melrosians together for a good time, said Christina Gagliano, who serves as chairperson of the organization.

“People are looking for a reason to get out of their houses and have some fun,” Gagliano said.

Mini Golf at the Melrose Public Library, which will take place on the last Saturday night in January, will transform the library into an adults-only mini golf course.

In addition to putting greens that will wind through the lobby, upstairs through the stacks and down into the children’s room, there will be summery music and a string quartet, literary-themed trivia, hors d’oeuvres, a 50/50 raffle and a beer and wine bar.

“We wanted this to be something fun, not something that people are like, ‘oh, I have to go to that,’” she said. “We want to have a nice event for the community that brings a bunch of different people together.”

The next day, the library will host pay-to-play mini golf for younger Melrosians and their families, complete with light breakfast and lunch fare available for purchase. Upstairs, Roman Music Therapy will host family karaoke.

Gagliano said Mini Golf at MPL is the Friends’ first large-scale fundraiser, and all proceeds will go towards funding programming and services at the library.

“The mission of the Friends of the Melrose Public Library is to raise money and awareness and support the activities and programs and services of the Melrose Public Library that aren’t in the budget,” she said.

Last year’s improvements to the teen area, which was redesigned by Melrose business Cozy Home Design, were funded by the Friends. So are the library’s frequent author events.

“We are looking to fund some more teen programs and adult programs,” Gagliano said.

The headlining sponsor of the event is the Agent Expertise Team at RE/MAX Leading Edge, which paid a large part of the cost of bringing the golfing greens to the library, but local businesses still have an opportunity to sponsor individual holes on the course.

A re-introduction

Though Gagliano hopes the event will raise money, she said the primary goal is to re-introduce Melrosians to their library.

“If you think about the library as just a place to come for books, you haven’t been here in a while,” she said. “I want people to remember that the library is here, to use it, to realize the role it’s played in our city’s history. It is integral both to the history and to Melrose as it is now.”

Gagliano is speaking from experience. She says she’s one of many home-based professionals in Melrose that head to the library when it’s time for a change of scenery.

“For some people, it’s their home away from home,” she said. “There are some people who come here every day and hang out, they read, they job-hunt. There is a lot more here than just books. It’s a place where people have meetings, a place where people gather.”

A timely reminder

Gagliano said the library would like to augment its role as a community gathering place but the building, originally constructed in 1904, faces spatial constraints.

A proposed renovation would solve many of those issues, Gagliano said, and the grant that could make it happen is moving forward.

Mini Golf at the Melrose Public Library is an opportunity for people to see why the library needs the reinvestment, she said.

“We really want to bring people in, especially people who haven’t been here in a while,” she said. “We want people to take a look around and see that this is great building, that it’s a great center of our community, that it’s a place we can all come as citizens of Melrose.”

ADULTS ONLY EVENT:

WHEN: Saturday, Jan. 28 from 8 to 11 p.m.

WHERE: Melrose Public Library, 69 West Emerson St.

HOW TO GO: Visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mini-golf-at-the-melrose-public-library-tickets-30219339859